Posts

Frogmore, SC

A short drive from downtown Beaufort in Frogmore, the Chapel of Ease was built around 1740 as a more convenient place of worship for Saint Helena Island's planters. Like many of the antebellum structures in the Lowcounty, it was built of tabby, a mixture of oyster shells, lime, sand and water. Brick was used, presumably, for structural support where necessary. Many ruins of tabby buildings remain across the Lowcountry, and there are a few early buildings still around with stucco exterior walls (like the Thomas Fuller House or "Tabby Manse" on Bay Street). We use tabby frequently for foundations, chimneys, or driveways, often with a brick accent.

You can see below how the tabby is covered with a layer of stucco and then scored, to resemble stone.

The neo-Egyptian mausoleum in the graveyard is probably one of very few examples of neo-Egyptian architecture in the South Carolina Lowcountry. Members of the Fripp family were buried here around 1860. It is said that the crypt was vandalized by union soldiers during the war, disturbing the Fripp's eternal rest. After workers re-sealed the entrance with brick, the returned the next day to find the bricks stacked neatly outside the door. The door remains open to this day, and spirits have been seen and heard on the grounds. The church was burned by a forest fire in 1868 and has been in ruin ever since.